About the best I've been to are probably Rasa N16 (the veggie one) and Jai Krishna / Jai Shri Krishna, although that's kind of a reflection on my North London parochialism more than anything else. Tayyabs has a strong rep, but doesn't seem /that/ special apart from the chops. I'd like to try Hansa in Leeds.

Glad someone else said that about Tayyabs - didn't see the fuss at all when I went.

Think Rasa has gone downhill of late - seems a bit bland. Maybe I'm just bored of it after many years tho. Drummond Street has good South Indian restaurants, but they aren't mind-blowing, just good.

Went to Dishoom in Covent Garden last weekend - disappointing. I like Cafe Nawaz around the back of Guy's Hospital in Borough - never seen it mentioned anywhere tho.

Not been to High St North - which is the best choice there, Luka?

Southall too, obviously, though it's many years since i've been. Good places in Tooting, too - I think Radha Krishna Bhavan was the one I liked, great tomato curry.

Was looking for Kashmiri restaurants after making a curry last week (without onions and garlic, and only powdered ginger - typical for Hindu Kashmiri food?) http://www.chorbizarrerestaurant.com...ex_london.html and this place comes up. Expensive but interesting menu

Sundarbon, a family-owned Bangladeshi joint in Selly Oak, Birmingham. You can indeed bring your own booze, I believe.

Ah, I was waiting for a non-London option. I don't think I've ever been anywhere genuinely top class outside the M25 (except maybe Mother India's Cafe), but that's largely because I haven't tried all that hard.

I was also waiting for someone from eg Wimbledon to come and challenge Luka's assertion of East Ham's primacy, but then I remembered that noone on Dissensus goes west of the A5 other than for carnival.

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the House Committee on Un-Dissensian Activities, there's a place on B***k Lane that deserves a mention. Can't remember what it's called but it's on the corner of one of the smaller roads leading off to the east, and is basically the curry equivalent of a greasy spoon. The tables and chairs look like they've been pinched from a down-at-heel state comprehensive, the water is served in battered metal jugs and the walls are decorated with these amazing posters of hilariously macho-camp Pakistani wrestlers. The food obviously isn't the most awesome curry you've ever eaten or anything like that but it's decent and pretty cheap. A good antidote to those upmarket places that are all tasteful dim lighting, Indo-jazz at subliminal volume and menus that overuse the word 'authentic'.

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the House Committee on Un-Dissensian Activities, there's a place on B***k Lane that deserves a mention.

Oh, now that you've broken cover, this is very good. It's also about 30 yards off Brick Lane, so you can still look down your nose at the tourist riff-raff.

Outside London, Gurkha Grill on Burton Rd was my second home when I lived in Manchester. Haven't been in a decade but friends still go and say it's still good. On the same street, a mate of mine called Seema ran a café-style place that was great, if extremely limited in choice. Feel bad now cos I forget the name of it. But she did an amazing tuna steak.